Winners rationale

The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for U/HNW clients to begin or review their wealth planning and succession journey. Riding on the bank’s reputation as a trusted partner in the region, HSBC Global Private Banking has translated this momentum into tangible revenue growth in the said year by delivering a highly customised and holistic roadmap for wealthy families with different needs.

Many banks traditionally considered wealth planning service as a value-add that does not bring in significant revenue for the business, but HSBC Global Private Banking has been excelling in this area for decades and leverages its wealth planning expertise as a conversation starter with prospects, or as a key service offering that could reinforce a trusted, long-term relationship with existing clients.

After integrating into the bank’s global private bank client coverage model in 2020, the wealth planning and advisory teams at HSBC took advantage of the combination of the Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) platform and collaboration between private banking and corporate banking in 2021 for greater exposure to clients which could be in the earlier stages of wealth creation. The wealth planning and advisory team conducts monthly training and weekly updates with RMs to ensure that they are well aware of the latest wealth planning developments, as well as able to identify and channel clients’ wealth planning demands to the team.

Building on the back of solid growth in 2020, the bank recorded another year of a double-digit increase in AUM and AUA (assets under administration) in 2021. With the market volatility sustained throughout the year, the demand for liquidity planning tools resulted in another strong year of growth in the revenue generated on liquidity planning tools.

As a household name established for over 150 years in Hong Kong, HSBC has been through economic cycles as well as periods of uncertainties with its clients in the region. This allows the wealth planning and advisory team to accurately identify what keeps clients awake at night, and provide customised solutions that cater to needs surrounding important decisions in life — whether these be decisions of changing or diversitying residency or citizenship, planning for a family business exit, setting up a family office, designing a family governance blueprint, formalising the family’s philanthropic giving framework or establishing trusts to segregate family assets prior to a public listing of the entrepreneur’s business. The judging panel was impressed by the case studies showcased by the bank, which demonstrated the wealth planner’s attention to detail and a good variety of solutions available to meet the above needs.

HSBC Global Private Banking is Asian Private Banker’s Best Private Bank – Wealth Planning Services for 2021.